A
"Berry" Good
Time in
Merriwether
web posted
April 9, 2014MERRIWETHER
– It’s a “berry”
good day in the
neighborhood, if
the neighborhood
is Merriwether
and you are on
Briggs Road
turning into
Gurosik’s Berry
Plantation at
345 Briggs Road,
just off
Martintown Road
in Merriwether.
Edgefield
Daily.com was
taken for a tour
of the
plantation and
facilities by
owner Clyde
Gurosik and his
wife Marilyn,
and a very
impressive tour
it was.

Mr. Gurosik, or
Clyde as he
preferred to be
called, said he
has been growing
strawberries
“all my life,”
relating, “my
first memory was
being in a baby
carrier in the
strawberry
fields,” as his
parents were
harvesting in
his birthplace
of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Gurosik said
his father and
grandfather were
growers and
although he
became an
engineer and
managed the
building of
thermo-nuclear
weapons for over
20 years at the
Savannah River
Site with
DuPont, and
later until
retiring during
the tenure of
Westinghouse,
this is what he
always wanted to
do.

The
Berry Plantation
expands for 100
acres, though
most cannot see
the expansive
fields from the
market building
and the “U pick”
field nearby.
Mr. Gurosik
stated he looked
at over a
hundred
different
locations in the
area before
finding his
farm, which at
the time was
forest. “When I
saw this place,
I knew this is
where we needed
to be,” he said
explaining the
soil had the
perfect blend of
sandy loam on
top and a clay
base which he
said held the
proper nutrients
better than most
soils.

“You can taste
it in the
fruit,” he said.
An opinion that
many locals will
agree with.

Starting out
with just 12
acres, two of
which he planted
in strawberries,
his farm really
took off when he
retired in 2000.
“Right now we
have 12 acres of
strawberries,
two of those
being the ‘U
pick’ field,” he
said. In
addition Mr.
Gurosik said
they have 3
acres of hybrid
blackberries, 2
acres of
asparagus, and 2
acres each of
tomatoes
(7
varieties),
cucumbers,
beans, and 3/4
of an acre in
flowers.

The
strawberry
plants are a
hybrid
strawberry that
must be replaced
every season to
keep out
diseases. Mr.
Gorosik said he
gets his plants
from Canada
where they are
culture grown,
otherwise known
as cloning, and
shipped to him
in early
September. “We
tear everything
out, fumigate,
replace the
mounds and
plastic, and
plant in
September,” he
said. “At first,
until the roots
take hold we
pump 1200
gallons of water
per minute to
the plants,”
explaining the
expansive
$60,000
irrigation
system he
installed which
can transfer
water from any
of his many
ponds to the
fields or other
ponds using 3
diesel pumps and
7 electric pumps
. “We trenched
so that when we
water, the
runoff is
directed back to
one of the ponds
out of the
fields. The only
thing we lose in
irrigation is
the
evaporation,” he
said. At 120,000
plants, that is
a lot of water
used, and saved.

Mr.
Gurosik stated
the average cost
per acre for
planting the
strawberries ran
between $12,000
and $14,000 per
acre, excluding
the cost of
irrigation and
labor and
harvesting. The
harvesting
begins in late
March or early
April and the
season will run
through the
first part of
July.

The plants will
contain fruit
sets ranging
from 75 to 120
per plant. As
the berries
ripen they are
harvested at
three day
intervals.

Currently Mr.
Gurosik said
they have six
satellite
markets, Wacky
Wayne’s at I-20,
Baston Road in
Martinez at the
Curtain Call,
the farmers
market, and
other locations
around the CSRA
not counting the
home market on
Briggs Road in
Merriwether.

The
other produce
will begin to
ripen in mid to
late May, with
the black
berries being
first, and will
also run through
July.

In addition Mr.
Gurosik said
they had added
herbs to this
year’s list of
goodies they
provide.

The strawberries
are ripe, sweet,
and plentiful
and Gurosik’s
Berry Plantation
offers a great
family outing to
enjoy picking
your own, or
browsing the
gift shop and
picking out
pre-picked
berries.

Additional
restrooms have
been added to
meet the needs
of tour busses
that visit the
farm. Prices
have gone up
this year due to
fuel costs Mr.
Gurosik said.
One gallon
buckets are
$11.50, half
gallon's are
$7.25, and
quarts ar $4.00.